| 80 |
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Big muscular guys pruning roses IS funny and charming.
|
| 75 |
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
Clumsier hands could have planted this load of pungent sap and come up with sticky fingers. But the creators of this based-on-truth fable carefully cultivate the material so it comes off fresher than it sounds.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Only occasionally does the film fall into the trap of making the prisoners cute, but it never falters in important ways.
|
| 70 |
New Times (L.A.)
Jean Oppenheimer
Proves a lovely, sweet alternative for audiences fed up with the latest hell-on-wheels action thriller or the newest horror film comedy spoof.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Entertaining and heartwarming -- especially when Mirren sweeps into scenes with acid observations that fail to disguise a heart of gold.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
This is not challenging filmmaking by any means, more like a comfortable old slipper. But it's a perennial that's guaranteed to please.
|
| 63 |
Miami Herald
Connie Ogle
It's pleasant, mildly uplifting entertainment, one of the few recent movies to use plants as its muse.
|
| 60 |
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
It's hard not to be charmed by scenes like the one in which Briggs gives his posies a little pep talk, assuring them that just because they sprouted behind prison walls doesn't mean they can't compete with those hoity-toity flowers at Hampton Court.
|
| 60 |
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Ingratiating trifle.
|
| 50 |
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Certainly pleasant enough, and if you can put the preachiness out of mind it's entertaining, in its square, conventional way.
|
| 50 |
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
The latest in a line of quirky, feel-good British comedies, Greenfingers fits right into the breezily entertaining mold but doesn't expand it.
|
| 50 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
It's too quick, too pat.
|
| 50 |
Boston Globe
Elizabeth Barchas
Plants the seeds of comedy that grow into a mild feel-good flick, but it won't reap much viewer satisfaction.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Amusing enough to watch and passes the time, but it's the kind of movie you're content to wait for on your friendly indie cable channel.
|
| 50 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Between Owen's quiet intensity and Mirren's showy color, they make a complementary pair for screen or garden.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Loren King
Unambitious and transparent, but that doesn't mean it won't warm the hearts of audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
Amy Taubin
Owen and Mirren are fun to watch, but the film, despite the many shots of gardens in full bloom, lacks visual distinction.
|
| 40 |
The New York Times
Dave Kehr
The film is as synthetic as a rubber rose, but it is all but indistinguishable from the organically grown, bred-in-Britain article.
|
| 40 |
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Relentlessly smarmy and contrived, and its pitch for the cause of prisoner rehabilitation preachy and heavy-handed.
|
| 40 |
Mr. Showbiz
Michael Atkinson
Watching this movie go through its simplistic dramatic motions, you begin to understand why some actors stick to summer stock and live Ibsen revivals.
|
| 33 |
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
If your allergy to comedies bred from British style mugging crossed with Disney style prancing has, like mine, flared up in recent years, this hybrid from writer director Joel Hershman (''Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me'') will make you wheeze.
|
| 30 |
Chicago Reader
Reece Pendleton
Where "The Full Monty" earned its laughs with rich characterizations and a biting take on economic hardship, Greenfingers is content to trot out predictable stereotypes, adding a romantic subplot as filler.
|
| 30 |
Variety
Dennis Harvey
This shameless knockoff marches lock-stepped through moves that were already looking as tired as the Macarena.
|
| 20 |
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Ought to have been called "The Sap Also Rises."
|
| 20 |
Austin Chronicle
Kimberley Jones
And then there's the overacting. And then there's the hamminess of the script. And then there's
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